CALLED TO...STAY AND SEND
11/19/2019
Jesus calls us to make disciples.
All of us, without exception, can follow Jesus’ command right where we live, in the context of our immediate surroundings. This could be in school, in the workplace, with our friends, or even in the privacy of our own home! Every church member can ask, “Where I am, and with what I’ve been given, how can I honour Christ in seeking to make disciples right here, right now? Local mission is necessary and is the most natural manifestation of Christian obedience.
However, there is still so much need in global missions! It is estimated that 3.19 billion people, 41.6% of the world’s populations, are still to hear the good news of the Kingdom. I hear you ask “is that not what mission agencies exist for?” Well yes it is, but they exist to resource the local church in mission through their experience and expertise. The primary responsibility of addressing this problem does not lie with mission agencies, but with the local church!
The Bible teaches us that a global mission is a concern for every local church, working in partnership with one another. This doesn’t mean that the responsibility stops with the church leader, or even with a leadership team. All of us share a responsibility. Yes, you! However, not everyone a missionary is the traditional sense of the word; not everyone is identified and sent out by their local church for the purpose of making the gospel known across ethnic, linguistic or geographic divides.
So if we aren’t sent as missionaries; what is our role in global mission? Passages such as 3rd John clearly show that as members of the local church, we are called to support those sent out for the above purposes. Called to….Stay and Send will help us Christians, who aren’t called to be missionaries, explore our role in global missions and consider our responsibilities to those that are. In the 3 week course we will look at issues such as:
- What are characteristics of a church with a healthy missional heart and how do we as members contribute towards that?
- How do we build up, set apart and send out effective missionaries?
- What does partnership between interested parties look like?
- What is member care and how are we responsible for it?
- Types of support – Practical/ Pastoral/ Prayer
- How can we help and utilise those who have returned home?
God, in all His wisdom, has chosen us - in countless local churches - as the agents to help Him accomplish His mission of global redemption. He has a role for each and every one of us, what an awesome privilege!
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